Land in Tokyo and into Shibuya's record district
Arrive at Tokyo (Haneda or Narita)
Tokyo is a year-round city for this kind of trip, so there is no season to plan around, though it is worth knowing that late March into April brings cherry blossom (and crowds) and that September can see the odd typhoon. From Haneda the Keikyu line or monorail reach central Tokyo in around 30 minutes; from Narita the Narita Express or the cheaper Keisei Skyliner take roughly an hour. Base yourself somewhere on the Yamanote loop so the record neighbourhoods are all a short hop away. Book flights →
Check in around Shibuya or Shinjuku
Both Shibuya and Shinjuku sit on the Yamanote line and put you within minutes of almost every stop on this itinerary, from Shimokitazawa to Koenji. Shibuya is the more atmospheric base for a record trip, since the shops, the listening bars and the crossing are all on your doorstep. Search hotels →
Guided orientation walk of Shibuya
Before you start digging, a short guided walk is the easiest way to get your bearings around Shibuya Crossing and the warren of backstreets behind it, where the record shops hide on upper floors and in basements. A good local guide will also point you at the coffee stops and izakaya you would otherwise walk straight past. One thing to know for the whole week: many Tokyo record shops open late, often around 11:00 or noon, and some close one weekday, so check individual hours before a special trip. Search walking tour in Shibuya on GetYourGuide →
The Udagawa-cho record cluster
Shibuya's Udagawa-cho district, just north-west of the crossing, is the historic heart of Tokyo record shopping, with dozens of shops stacked into a few blocks. Start at HMV Record Shop Shibuya, which stocks up to 80,000 titles across two floors, the bulk of them secondhand vinyl, then walk to Face Records nearby for a tightly curated selection of soul, jazz and Japanese pressings. Most shops here shut around 20:00, so this is prime early-evening digging.
Dinner in Shibuya, then a nightcap at JBS
Eat somewhere simple in the Shibuya backstreets, then climb to JBS (Jazz, Blues and Soul), a tiny second-floor listening bar on Dogenzaka where the owner, Kobayashi-san, plays from a wall of more than 10,000 alphabetised records. It seats barely twenty, opens evenings only (roughly 19:00 to 23:00) and asks that you come to listen rather than talk over the music; expect a small cover or a one-drink minimum.
Shinjuku: Disk Union's floors and a sake evening
Disk Union Shinjuku's genre floors
A few minutes up the Yamanote line, Shinjuku is home to the flagship of Disk Union, Japan's best-known secondhand record chain and the one shop that is genuinely safe to build a day around. Take a slow morning first, because the main Shinjuku building opens at noon (a little earlier at weekends): it runs to eight floors, each given over to a genre, and the chain also scatters dedicated specialist shops, jazz, punk and hardcore, Latin, club and more, through the surrounding blocks. Go floor by floor, or head straight for your genre.
Lunch in Omoide Yokocho
Duck into Omoide Yokocho, the lantern-lit lane of tiny counter kitchens by the west side of Shinjuku station, for yakitori or a bowl of ramen elbow to elbow with office workers. It is touristy now but still cheap, fast and full of character, the right kind of break between record floors.
The Disk Union specialist annexes
Spend the early afternoon working through the smaller Disk Union genre shops clustered within a short walk of the main store, plus the independent secondhand shops tucked into the same streets. This is dense, unhurried digging territory; leave time to actually listen at the counters, which is half the point in Tokyo.
Sake tasting
Break the day with a guided sake tasting, an easy and genuinely useful hour that teaches you how to read a label and tell a crisp junmai from a fruity ginjo before you order blind for the rest of the trip. Sessions run across central Tokyo and are worth booking ahead. Search sake tasting in Tokyo on GetYourGuide →
Golden Gai and dinner
End the day in Golden Gai, a six-alley grid of more than two hundred minuscule bars, each seating a handful of drinkers, on the eastern edge of Shinjuku. Some bars charge a cover and a few are regulars-only, but plenty welcome visitors; pick one that looks your speed, then find dinner in the surrounding streets.
Shimokitazawa: the indie and used-record heartland
Train to Shimokitazawa
Shimokitazawa is the bohemian heart of Tokyo's record scene, and it is a quick, direct hop: the Odakyu line from Shinjuku takes about seven minutes, or the Keio Inokashira line from Shibuya about six. Note the two lines are run by different companies with separate ticket gates inside the station, so mind which side you enter for the ride home.
The used-record cluster around the station
Shimokitazawa packs an extraordinary density of record shops into a few walkable blocks. Start with the local Disk Union branch for well-priced new and used stock, then work through the independents, including Flash Disc Ranch, a long-running second-floor shop (open from noon, closed one day midweek, so check before a special trip) strong on rock, jazz and soul. Beyond the names, half the pleasure is simply pushing open the door of the small shops you stumble on; most sit within a few minutes of each other.
Shimokitazawa curry lunch
The neighbourhood is as famous for curry as it is for records, it even throws an annual curry festival, and the backstreets are full of small Japanese-style curry houses. Pick one with a queue and settle in; it is the classic Shimokitazawa lunch between digs.
Vintage racks and a record café
Afternoon is for the neighbourhood's other obsession, second-hand clothing, with vintage stores threaded between the record shops. When your legs give out, there is a record shop and café upstairs in the area where you can flip through crates over a coffee, a very Shimokitazawa way to keep going.
Live house or izakaya evening
Shimokitazawa's live houses are where a lot of Japanese indie music actually starts, so if anything is on it is worth a punt. Otherwise the district's tiny izakaya and standing bars make for a relaxed evening close to where you have spent the day.
Tsukiji Outer Market and a garden tea house
Tsukiji Outer Market food tour
A quick clarification that trips a lot of visitors up: the famous wholesale fish auction moved to Toyosu in 2018, but the Tsukiji Outer Market, the retail warren of 400-plus stalls, knife shops and food counters, is very much still here and thriving. Come hungry and early, when it is liveliest, and a guided food tour is the best way to taste widely and understand what you are eating. Search Tsukiji food tour in Tokyo on GetYourGuide →
Sushi or tamago at the market
If the tour has not already filled you up, round things off with a sushi counter or a skewer of sweet tamagoyaki from one of the market's long-standing stalls. Most Outer Market shops wind down by early afternoon, so this is a morning affair.
Hamarikyu Gardens and matcha at the tea house
A fifteen-minute walk from the market brings you to Hamarikyu Gardens, a former shogunal duck-hunting estate of tidal ponds and pine walks hemmed in by Ginza's towers. On an island in the main pond, the Nakajima-no-ochaya tea house serves a bowl of whisked matcha and a seasonal sweet for around ¥1,000, an easy, walk-in way to taste the ritual. There is a small garden entry fee of around ¥300, and the garden is open daily.
Ginza wander
Ginza sits just north of the garden, so drift up into it for an afternoon among its department-store food halls and side streets. It is a change of register after the market, and the basement food floors are a spectacle in their own right.
Dinner back near your base
Head back to Shibuya or Shinjuku for a relaxed dinner. After an early start at the market, an unhurried evening close to home is the sensible call.
Nakameguro, Daikanyama and a ramen class
The Meguro river and Nakameguro cafes
Nakameguro is the low-key, design-minded end of Tokyo's music culture, strung along the cherry-tree-lined Meguro river a short ride from Shibuya on the Tokyu Toyoko or Hibiya line. Start with a slow morning here, walking the river and settling into one of the small, careful cafes and bakeries on the blocks either side, since the shop you have come for does not open until the afternoon.
Lunch, then Waltz
Take a long, unhurried lunch, then head to Waltz, a beautifully kept shop dealing in vinyl and, unusually, cassette tapes, laid out like a small museum. It opens at 13:00 and closes on Mondays, so plan around that; it can also get busy, so be patient at the door.
Daikanyama and its book-and-record house
Stroll fifteen minutes uphill to Daikanyama, Tokyo's quiet, upmarket boutique quarter, and its landmark bookshop complex, where a serious music and vinyl section sits alongside the reading rooms and a café. It is an easy, browse-until-closing sort of afternoon.
Ramen cooking class
Swap browsing for the kitchen with a hands-on ramen class, where you build a bowl from the broth and noodles up and come away actually understanding the difference between a shoyu and a tonkotsu. Classes run all over central Tokyo and need booking in advance. Search ramen cooking class in Tokyo on GetYourGuide →
Riverside dinner or drinks
Round off with a drink or a light dinner back along the Meguro river, which is at its prettiest lit up in the evening. If your trip lands in late March or early April, this stretch is one of the city's great cherry-blossom walks, and correspondingly packed.
Koenji's crate-digging and Kichijoji
Train to Koenji
Koenji, west of Shinjuku on the JR Chuo line, is Tokyo's scruffier, punkier record hub and the antidote to Daikanyama's polish. It is about six minutes from Shinjuku, but note that on weekends and holidays the rapid trains skip Koenji, so you will need the local (Chuo-Sobu) service.
The Koenji record and vintage warren
Koenji's covered shotengai arcades and side lanes hide a strong cluster of second-hand record shops, heavy on 60s and 70s rock, punk and the underground, alongside its famous vintage-clothing stores. It rewards wandering more than a checklist: push open the small doors, and expect a lot of walls of used LPs.
Lunch in Koenji
The neighbourhood is full of cheap, characterful spots, standing bars, curry counters, old-school kissaten. Grab a relaxed lunch here before moving one stop out.
Kichijoji and Inokashira Park
Ride a few minutes further west to Kichijoji, a consistently well-liked neighbourhood with its own good record and second-hand shops and, at its edge, Inokashira Park, a lake, rowing boats and wooded paths that make a genuinely restful counterpoint to a week of basements and browsing.
Evening in Kichijoji
Kichijoji's Harmonica Yokocho, a dense knot of tiny bars and eateries by the station, is a fine place to end the day before the short ride back to your base.
A tea ceremony, a last dig, and home
A proper tea ceremony
Give the last morning to a formal tea ceremony, a quiet, deliberate hour that is a fitting counterweight to a week of loud rooms and record crates. Sessions run across central Tokyo, often in traditional tatami rooms, and should be booked ahead. Search tea ceremony in Tokyo on GetYourGuide →
One last dig near your base
Use the remaining time for the shops you noted but never reached, or a return visit to the one that got away, most collectors leave Tokyo with a want-list already forming. Many shops open around 11:00 or noon, so late morning is the safe window.
Onward to the airport
Head back for the airport in good time: allow roughly an hour on the Narita Express or Skyliner to Narita, or around 30 to 40 minutes to Haneda, plus a check-in buffer. Pack the records as hand luggage if you can, checked bags are no friend to a stack of vinyl. Book flights →